Interview with Eric Milhouse

Booker of Belly Up Tavern

Solana Beach’s Belly Up Tavern has been luring incredible national acts to its beachside stage since 1974 – despite the city’s warning that the bar would go belly up for trying. Earning the vote of “San Diego’s Best Live Music Venue” from multiple local publications and deemed one of the hottest live music venues on the West Coast by Rolling Stone, Belly Up continues its tradition of bringing national greats to the San Diego area, while making a notable effort to support the local music community. We talked to national booker, Eric Milhouse, about his experience booking the 600 capacity 21+ venue for the past year and a half.

Q: What makes the Belly up San Diego’s best venue?

A: Part of why I think this place is so special is that we have employees that have been here since the 1970s. Everyone loves to be here. One of the things that sealed the deal for me, is that when I first walked in the door, everyone was smiling – including the security guards. I’ve never seen that before. Also we’ve got amazing sound, some really nice acoustics and there are quite a few great places for viewing, so you can get very close to seeing someone that you would not normally see that close.

Q: How do you include local bands in the shows you promote?

A: Chad Waldorf books all the local bands and support positions. Because national tours typically bring support with them, it’s making it very hard for local scenes to survive. But we work with a lot of great national bands and they trust us with our suggestions. So Chad’s job is to keep his ear to the ground around town and see who is playing something new and who’s selling out smaller clubs like The Casbah.

Q: What would make you want to ask a band back?

A: Well, we usually ask every band back. In the end, it’s just a connection between everyone involved: the promoter, the agent, the band and most importantly, the ticket buyer. If we can pull that together and give that ticket buyer a really, really great night to remember, then we’re doing our jobs.

www.bellyup.com

North By North Park Debuts in San Diego

San Diego Music Foundation, the local music education non-profit responsible for the annual San Diego Music Awards, will host its inaugural North by North Park event on August 2, bringing a little bit of Austin to the San Diego community. “Most of our board has gone to Austin two dozen times or more, and we’re so close to the music industry in L.A., we just felt it was something we should do,” SDMF president and NxNP organizer Kevin Hellman told Performer.

The one-day event will follow the model of South by Southwest, with education during the day in the form of industry panels and workshops, scheduled to be held at the Lafayette Hotel in North Park, and live music showcases in the evening, hosted at various venues in the immediate area with shuttle service between them.

“The mission of our foundation is music education. When we do the San Diego Music Awards, we buy Taylor

guitars and put them in the schools. With this, we’re trying to educate not only the musicians in Southern California about the business of music, but also the public to go out and see the bands,” Hellman said.

Registration will begin at 10 a.m., and the education portion of the event will include six workshops: “Music Industry 101: The Basics in 2008,” “How to Make Money as a Songwriter and Publisher,” “Music Marketing: Promoting Your Band,” “Music Licensing: TV, Film, Online, Video Games,” “Touring 2008: Getting a Gig Locally and in Another Town” and “Is a Record Deal in Your Future?,” all featuring industry panelists from the SoCal area, as well as keynote speaker Jerry Heller.”

Over 80 artists, predominantly from Southern California, will then perform at the live showcases, which were booked by the SDMF through a free application process earlier this year. “This is something I’ve been wanting to do for years, and it just seems like the time is right,” said Hellman. “It’s just unbelievable how much music is being produced here right now.”

www.sandiegomusicfoundation.org/nxnp

In the News

Rounder Records have picked up Delta Spirit’s debut LP, Ode to Sunshine, and will re-release it in all of its bright indie folk/rock glory on August 26. The five- piece band’s recent appearance on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic show and U.S. tour with Matt Costa have pumped up the reissue. Delta Spirit also has a handful of Australian dates scheduled for early August and a show at the El Rey in L.A. with Dr. Dog on August 8.

www.deltaspirit.net

San Diego’s Tropical Depression recently self-released a new EP, titled The Hot Crime Broadcast. Following the band’s 2007 self-titled full-length debut, this six-song album was recorded at Black Box Studios in San Diego. The electronica/indie rock duo, consisting of Jordan Thomas and Joeseph T. Campesino, will perform at the North By North Park festival’s Ray Street stage on August 2.

www.myspace.com/

tropicaldepression

After a few Southern California shows early in the month, including a performance at North By North Park on August 2, The Locust will travel to Europe for a summer tour. The two-week stint kicks off on August 24 at Iperfest in Belgium and wraps up on September 6 at the Ground 3 Festival in The Netherlands.

www.thelocust.com

Swim Party recently celebrated the long-awaited release of its new album, Pixie Dust on the Blood Range, with a show at the Whistlestop Bar featuring local compadres Writer. The bulk of the nine-track album was recorded at Black Box Studios with Mario Quintero engineering, and was mastered by John Golden at Golden Mastering.

www.swimparty

music.com

Get Back Loretta will hit the road for a short California tour this month with Man Without Wax. Kicking off in Sacramento on August 18, the bands will make stops in San Francisco, Fresno and Los Angeles, before their August 22 homecoming show at the Che Café. The San Diego five-piece will spend the remainder of the month gigging around Southern California with BoomSnake.

www.myspace.com/

getbackloretta

The new independent record label on the block, Crumb Records, signed the first artist to its roster this summer, San Diego’s Sharon Hazel Township. The acoustic artist fuses folk, rock and emotionally driven songwriting, and has quite an accomplished resume.

www.myspace.com/

crumbrecordssandiego